Morning Read: Dow Aims for Third Straight Record

By Brendan Conway

Market check: Index futures point modestly higher, creating a chance for a third-straight record high for blue-chip stocks. U.S. jobless claims fell by 7,000 to a seasonally adjusted 340,000 last week, slightly better than forecast. The four-week moving average fell to 348,750, the lowest since March 2008. Spain’s IBEX 35 stock index gained after the country sold more than EUR 4.6 billion in bonds. Gold and silver are advancing.

Fund watch: My colleague Andrew Bary weighs in on activist investor Carl Icahn’s sudden new role in Dell’s (DELL) future: “Icahn relishes a fight and he dislikes corporate executives who take advantage of shareholders. And he apparently doesn’t like the Dell buyout,” Bary notes. “Given the rising opposition, maybe it’s time for Michael Dell to end his low-ball buyout bid, adopt a shareholder-friendly action like a buyback or one-time dividend, and run the company for the benefit of all shareholders.” Read more here.

In the news: A Credit Suisse (CS) study suggests new comfort among hedge-fund investors about Europe, via Bloomberg.

In case you missed it: Where the big hedge funds and mutual funds are buying and selling, from Citigroup’s (C) Tobias Levkovich.

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There are 2 comments

MARCH 7, 2013 10:28 A.M.

tom u wrote:

CITIBANK IS AIMED TO SINK TO ZERO. ALL INVESTORS ARE STARTING TO SEE THE WRITING ON THE WALL. Citibank ahas a secret one trillion dollar loan from the Fed that they can not pay back and it is counting as its own money to fool Wall Street.

MARCH 7, 2013 10:33 A.M.

CAC wrote:

Citibank is broke. Citibank is being ripped apart as you read this. The massive fraud bank that was is very mush smaller and will never go back to $58 a share. Because of the 10 for 1 split Citibank is now at $45 per share but that is really $4.50. Sell now while the other investors are dreaming in LALA LAND. Citibank is done

About Focus on Funds

As exchange-traded funds and other investing vehicles have ballooned in number, the task of figuring out what works well and what doesn’t has only gotten harder. Barrons.com’s Focus on Funds looks under the hood of ETFs, mutual funds and hedge funds for overlooked values, actionable ideas and the latest pitfalls for fund investors.

Chris Dieterich has covered the U.S. stock market for The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires. He is a graduate of Regis University and the Missouri School of Journalism.